Restless
by spectacal
Summary: After a little girl goes missing in Amity Park, Danny is visited by the same girl's ghost. Now Danny must help find the killer. But even as he helps another, he puts his own future in danger and suffers the consequences. [Hinted DxS and TxS]
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: Recent events have put this into my head. I don't know, I have the tendency to put real life scenarios into my fanfictions, which can be a good thing... or a bad thing. No, this isn't the most exciting chapter. Vlad and Clockwork (And do I dare say it? Dan.) are involved much later in the story. Just a heads up, this might disturb some people.  
Also, thank you to the people who proof-read the first chapter for me on Livejournal. I appreciate it so much, now that I know I'm useless without spellcheck! XD

**Disclaimer for the entire story that I'm not repeating so there**: I don't own Danny Phantom or any of the respective characters. Emily Penn and her teddy bear and probably some other random characters are the only ones I take credit for.

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Amity Park was always a close community. Residents walked without fear, their heads held high with pride for the low crime rate and the safety of their children, who walked with even less fear. The only real danger the town ever faced was the occasional robbery, and of course, ghost attacks. (Although, some residents will argue that the danger is the local ghost _hunters_, who sometimes caused more damage than the actual ghost.) The entire town was aware of ghosts, since a hostel takeover of the town sent it into a foreign dimension known as the "Ghost Zone." Not to mention the eminent and unsung Danny Phantom, who served as the town's unofficial hero.

Amber Alerts, although known to other cities, were rare in Amity Park. In fact, there had only been one other time it was needed, serving as a false alarm when a 16-year-old faked her own kidnapping in order to run away with the "love of her life." She was found six hours later when she appeared back at her house, claiming she forgot her wallet.

Two days ago, as the local news station reported, seven-year-old Emily Penn disappeared from the crowded Spruce Street Playground. Her mother told officials that she was reading on a nearby bench while Emily was on the swings, and when she next looked up, her daughter was no longer there. Her mother searched the playground, and finding no sign of Emily, she called the police. An extensive search around the area took place, with instructions that no one would leave the playground. Emily was not to be found.  
With the Amber Alert came a curfew for children attending the town's schools. All students were to report directly to the buses after the final bell and be dropped off at the front doors of their houses. They were not to leave the house without a parent or guardian escorting them.

At Casper High, the busy lives of teenagers were disturbed by the curfew. They made sure they voiced their anger.

"My mom won't let me anywhere out of her sight!"

"So much for going to the mall this weekend."

"If anyone so much as touches me, I'd give them a good ass-whooping!"

"That would show 'em!"

"It's hard to believe..." Tucker said over the crowded sounds of the hall. "My mom used to take me to that playground." He leaned against the lockers beside Sam, both of the teens watching as Danny attempted to remember his locker combination.

"My parents are so freaked out." Sam sighed. "They hired several guards for the house. They're there all day and all night, it's kinda creepy." She directed her attention to Danny, who had just banged his head against the metal door of his locker. "Having trouble?"

"No." The blue eyed boy answered, gazing around before his hand went intangible. Sticking his hand through the locker door, he felt around for a moment and pulled out his Biology book.

"See? You don't even need a locker combination." Tucker laughed. The two friends shared a grin, but Danny broke it off as he noticed a particular someone walking down the hall.

"Gah! Hide me!" He squeaked, jumping behind Sam. Sam and Tucker watched as Jazz passed the lockers, her eyes filled with determination. She glanced around, not noticing the horribly hidden Danny behind his two best friends. As she turned into another hall, Danny wiped invisible sweat from his forehead.  
"What was that all about?" Sam asked first, raising an eyebrow.

"Jazz has been trying to convince me to lie off of ghost hunting for a while, at least until the curfew is over. She says it's for the best, so that nothing bad happens." Danny did his impression of Jazz, his last words forming into an annoyingly pitched voice and his eyes crossing. As much as he appreciated Jazz's concern, there was a limit to how much he could take. Taking the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick, for example, was a level above what he could take.

"Well... She's kinda right, you know." Sam said, her voice unsure if what she was saying was right. "I mean, what if the kidnapper was a ghost? Something could happen if you get too much involved, or--"  
"Or the entire town could be taken over again by some crazy ghost." Tucker said shortly. They shared a glare, and Danny heaved a sigh.

"I don't know." He said, shrugging. "That's kind of the risk you take, right?" Sam's eyes fell to the floor, giving it a frown. Tucker nudged her in the ribs, knowing exactly what she was thinking through a silly grin, and received a punch on the arm.

"_OW_."

"Just be careful, okay Danny?" Danny nodded at Sam's request, just as the bell rang and they ran to their next class.

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"Oh no." Danny said, directing his attention to the clear blue sky. He shuddered lightly at his ghost sense and frowned.

"Who is it?" Tucker asked beside him, his gaze never leaving the PDA in his hands.

"When I find them, I'll let you know."

The students felt like cattle on the grass in front of the school. They were being herded onto their buses, surrounded by the school faculty to make sure none of them snuck off. Among them, Danny and Tucker stood, waiting for Sam to catch up before they headed to their bus.

"There they are." Danny said, elbowing his friend. They squinted, trying to make out the speck that was gradually getting closer.

"Is it... Skulker?" Tucker asked. The speck didn't get any bigger as it got closer, remaining the same blue spot that was about to meet Danny's fist for the fifth time that week.

"No." He replied, sighing. "It's--"

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!" The entire student body turned into chaos, every girl shrieking and every boy yelling from the pain of the shrieking. The staff around the students did not budge, telling them to remain calm as the chubby little ghost hovered around the school grounds.

"I have come to take your precious computers in all of their square glory! Once I clear out the insides of them, THEY SHALL BE MINE!" He paused, and looked down onto the students. The Box Ghost swooped down, and yelled at a section of the crowd. "BEWARE."

"When did the Box Ghost become Technus?" Tucker said, tilting his head slightly in thought.

"I don't know, but I guess I'd better go stop it." Danny said, leaving Tucker and pushing his way towards the border of the students. The panicking kids hardly noticed Danny, running about in the little space they had. Danny felt his shoe catch on another's and hit the ground hard. He groaned at the grass stain on his elbow, but continued on by crawling. Finally, he reached the end and pulled himself past the legs of a blockade teacher. As he got up to run, someone grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

"Mr. Fenton! Where do you think you're going?" Danny met the eyes of Mr. Lancer, and gulped.

"I... I- um..." He stuttered, before a push from the crowd jolted Danny out of his teacher's hands. Mr. Lancer's attention was suddenly elsewhere.

"_War of the Roses_, Mr. Baxster! The teachers are not part of football practice! Do not try to tackle me _again_!" Danny held back a chuckle as he raced across the school grounds and hid behind the school wall. Duel blue rings stretched over him, leaving a green-eyed white haired boy in Danny Fenton's place. As if on cue, there was a mock evil laugh from the window above him, and Danny flew into the classroom.

If there wasn't anything more disturbing than seeing a ghost cuddling a computer, Danny did not know. He hovered in the air, cocking an eyebrow, until the Box Ghost noticed him.

"HOW DARE YOU DISTURB ME! NOTHING CAN STOP ME FROM TAKING THESE BOXES OF BEAUTY... NOTHING!" Danny decided that a witty comeback just wasn't worth it, and shot an ectoplasmic beam at the Box Ghost. He disappeared through the wall, and Danny followed him. In the hall, Danny noticed Sam on the other end. She stared as he knocked the Box Ghost into another classroom, and then gave Danny a quiet wave. He returned it, before disappearing into the classroom.

Sam smiled, little nips of crimson biting at her cheeks, before she headed to go outside.

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**Author's Note: **Eh? EH? Please, please, please critique this. Don't go so far as to flame me, but I would like to know how I can improve. (The next update should be on **August 27th**, where things really pick up.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Yes, it's not August 27th. Sorry, school got in the way more than I anticipated. This took me four days to write. oo  
I don't think it turned out very well, but I'll let you be the judge of that. And, some of the words Emily says are supposed to be misspelled. I don't know about you, but I couldn't talk very well when I was little. Yeah... she has a short attention span, too.

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"We were under the assumption you changed all of this the last time, Clockwork."

The blue ghost blinked, looking towards the two Observers once again standing in his doorway. His expression remained serious, even as his appearance became likewise of a child.

"I did not change his future." He responded. "The boy made his own choices, and changed his own future."

"That's not how we see it." One of the Observers said, followed by the other.

"You intervened instead of simply getting rid of him. Without your help, the end of the world would be upon us as we speak." Clockwork glanced to his desk, sitting amongst the ever turning gears surrounding his domain. On top of it, a thermos sat shaking in anticipation. _He_ knew they were talking about him, and he was excited. Clockwork held back a sneer and said.

"The only way to prevent the future was to show him. I did not wish to dispose of a boy with such…" He paused, becoming an old man, "Potential." The two Observers looked at each other, eye to eye, as if in a meeting including only them. In hushed voices, they turned back to Clockwork.

"So you have not seen it." Clockwork gaped. He had wished the subject had not been brought up, although he knew that it was the reason the Observers were there. He heaved a sigh, and hovered over in front of the future portal. He nodded.

"I've seen all three of the paradoxes."

"We don't care about the other two. We only care about the one." One Observant snapped, anger crossing its nonexistent face.

"What are the chances that all of this…" The other said, its tone calmer, "Everything we… he fought to prevent, will happen again?" Clockwork stared into the face of the future portal, watching what had not come to pass. Yet, anyway. At the climax, the end of all they tried to prevent in the first place, he looked away and to the twin Observers.

"I dare not say."

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Danny collapsed on his bed as soon as he turned human. Exhaustion overwhelmed him as he fought against the sheets into a more comfortable position. Lying on his back, he stared at the ceiling and ran a hand through his wind-blown hair. On his nightstand, the clock read 11:45 PM, leaving Danny with less than six hours of sleep before school.

The house stood perfectly quiet, leaving Danny to believe that his parents were either asleep or in the basement. He knew Jazz not to make any noise, so for all he knew she could have been awake. Four hours before, Jazz had called him – begrudgingly – and told him that she had already covered for him. If anyone asked, he took the bus home with Tucker. It soon led into Jazz lecturing him about safety, in which he suddenly spotted Skulker and hung up.

Danny rolled over on his side, blue eyes disappearing behind heavy lids. Sleep began to weave into a blanket of black around him and he welcoming it, feeling as weightless as when he was flying. Just as it overtook him—

--he shivered, and a breath of blue escaped him. He groaned dramatically and slapped a hand to his face, screaming inwardly about just wanting to relax. Danny rolled over, about to fall out of bed, when he noticed a faint green aura radiating from a corner of his room. He blinked, and sat up.

"Hello?" He called gently into the corner, mainly in order to not draw attention from his parents or Jazz. The aura shifted slightly, following the form of a little girl.

"Are... are you him?" She asked in a gentle manner. Danny met the ghostly eyes of a pale little girl, not a day over seven years old, with brown hair was tied into two messy pigtails. She was the classic appearance of a seven-year-old, complete with teddy bear and all. Danny sat on his bed, blinking, and replied.

"Who?"

"The halfa that they told me about. You can be a human, or you can be a ghost."

"Oh." Danny chuckled to himself, still amused by the name. "That's me." The girl didn't seem to smile, her eyes falling to the floor.

"I think I'm lost." She said slowly, stepping away from the corner.

"Well, I don't know how you ended up here but—." Danny blinked, seeing her facial features completely in the light. His stomach suddenly tied into knots. Freckles dotted her nose and cheeks, her eyes hazel, matching the exact description of… "You're… the girl who went missing." She didn't answer. "Emily."

"I guess so." She replied. "I don't remember any of it. Just the swings…" Emily gave a small smile – a real one, as if she was ignorant to her ghostly appearance – and twisted her teddy bear around in her arms. Danny frowned. It had been only three days, the hopes of her parents believing that their daughter was alive broadcast on the news that very night. No suspects had been arrested, no evidence found, and no sign of Emily anywhere. Still, her parents had enough optimism to forbid the police from searching Bloody Mary Lake. Danny lowered his head, now realizing they had no idea.

"I have a question." Emily whispered, suddenly standing in front of Danny. The teen looked up, trying to fight back his sullen expression.

"Shoot."

"Do you know why I can't go see my mommy and daddy again?"

"Who told you that?"

"The Powers that Be told me so. They said that I shouldn't go see my mommy and daddy because they're too emot… em… emotionally unstabool." Danny pondered this for a moment.

"Maybe it's for the best." He replied softly.

"They also said that I wouldn't be able to remember what happened because they took away my… memories of the whole occ… oohccerrance." Emily sighed, flopping her teddy bear onto Danny's bed. She climbed onto it and jumped up and down, the waves of the sheets bouncing Danny as well.

"You don't remember how you…" Danny clutched his stomach, remorse piling up as he finished quietly, "died…?" Emily didn't reply, either enjoying herself too much or not wanting to. Danny watched her for the moment, until she stopped and fell onto the bed.

"I'm tired. Mommy would be mad if she knew I was up this late." She got up, taking her bear with her. Danny watched her walk towards the wall, until his door suddenly opening distracted him. His parents (or rather, his father) crowded the doorway.

"Danny?" His father asked. "What are you still doing up?" Danny glanced across his room, where Emily was no longer.

"Nothing, Dad." He replied. "Just… thinking."

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"What do you mean Emily Penn was in your room last night?" Sam said the next day at school, walking beside Danny and Tucker as they headed towards lunch.

"I mean, Emily Penn _was in my room last night_!" Danny repeated. "She was just there, asked why she couldn't see her parents, jumped on my bed, and walked off!"

"Are you absolutely sure it was her?"

"It looked like the picture they've been showing on the news." Sam grimaced, the feeling Danny felt the night before welling up inside of her.

"That means… She's..." She didn't finish, looking away for a second to absorb everything. She eventually came back, anger replacing her sadness. "What kind of sick bastard would do that? To a little girl! Did she tell you who did it, because if she did, I'll—"

"No." Danny said quickly, not wanting to hear the gruesome details of what Sam would do. "She said 'the Powers that Be' or something erased her memories." A little _ding!_ from Tucker's PDA distracted him for a second, before he went on. "Whoever that is."

"If she ever comes around again," Sam growled, pushing the doors to the lunchroom open, "ask her."

"You won't have to." Tucker said, looking down at his PDA. Danny and Sam stopped as he held up his PDA, a news bulletin pulled up on the screen. "They found the guy who did it."

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**Author's Note**: What's this? A revalation!  
I have no clue when the next update will be, so just hold your breath and wait. Hehe, Clockwork.


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